The man who led the reinvestigation of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence has said he feared that corrupt officers may have helped shield the killers. Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Grieve led the third squad which tried to find enough evidence to gain murder convictions for the 1993 stabbing of the gifted student at a south-east London bus stop. He is the most senior police figure to give any degree of credence to allegations buffeting the Met about corruption in the Lawrence case which were broadcast last night in a BBC programme. The Met continues to deny any knowledge or evidence about corruption among the squad that first investigated the murder.
Mr Grieve, now retired, said: "During the investigation I led, we feared corruption might have played a part in the failure of the first investigation."
Last night the BBC broadcast allegations by a former regional crime squad detective that a colleague and senior detective in the first Lawrence murder team was bribed by the gangster father of one of the prime suspects.
Detective Sergeant John Davidson denies the claims that he was in the pay of Clifford Norris, whose son David was one of the main suspects.
Neil Putnam, who was jailed for corruption, went on to allege that he first alerted Scotland Yard about Mr Davidson in 1998, but he claims his testimony was kept from the inquiry into the murder.
Mr Putnam yesterday said that the Met had not contacted him about his allegation in the four years since they were first made public in 2002. He had told detectives from the anti-corruption squad interviewing him that Clifford Norris was bribing Mr Davidson, but his testimony had been covered up.
Mr Davidson worked alongside Mr Putnam at the south-east regional crime squad, south London, which he joined after serving on the first Lawrence murder Investigation. He now runs a bar in Spain.
Mr Putnam, who the Met describes as a witness of truth, says the response from anti-corruption detectives left him shocked: "They decided not to pursue any corruption matters on that because it's not in the public interest. I remember the words. It was likely if it came out it could destroy the Metropolitan police, those were the exact words, destroy the Metropolitan police."
The murder squad led by Mr Grieve had a limited investigation into corruption, believing it offered a chance of bringing fresh charges against some or all of the five prime suspects.
Scotland Yard said: "There was an investigation into John Davidson and any possible corrupt behaviour in the Lawrence case by him. If we had found any information or evidence we would have brought that to the inquiry's attention."
In the BBC programme, John Yates, who headed the corruption investigation that arrested Mr Putnam and is now a deputy assistant commissioner in the Met, branded Mr Davidson as corrupt. "From all the evidence I've seen, the intelligence I've seen, I have no doubt he was corrupt."
Mr Putnam was arrested in 1998 and told Scotland Yard's anti-corruption team, CIB3, which was led by Mr Yates, that Mr Davidson was one of a group of corrupt detectives in the south-east regional crime squad. Five would later be jailed, in part as a result of Mr Putnam's testimony.
In statements Mr Putnam claimed he and Mr Davidson acted corruptly together and said that:
· The two men split the £250 proceeds from a stolen consignment of Omega watches.
Mr Davidson denies each of these allegations and he was not prosecuted.
In his report, published in 1999, Sir William Macpherson criticised Mr Davidson's conduct but appeared to exonerate him from being motivated by corruption: "We are not convinced DS Davidson positively tried to thwart the investigation."
The inquiry concluded that the investigation had been "marred by professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership".
Sir William refused to discuss the case. "I've played my part", he said, and of the allegations, he said: "It's for others to consider."
